Two 29-story steel-and-glass office buildings rise above a dusty wasteland in the Indian state of Gujarat, the most conspicuous sign of progress on an ambitious project conceived by the man who is now India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.

The changing structure of the U.S. economy is having surprising impacts on the construction sector. For example, the stagnant construction sector has led to the realization that the U.S. needs fewer buildings to produce a unit of GDP today than it needed in 1980. In contrast, producing GDP today requires a lot more equipment—and even more intellectual property. Learn more about why the U.S. economy requires fewer buildings, but more intellectual property.

President Barack Obama, speaking Tuesday about last week’s Chattanooga shootings, vowed that lone wolf terrorist attacks on U.S. soil would never succeed in dividing Americans or changing the country's way of life. Mr. Obama also issued a proclamation on Tuesday ordering the flags at all federal buildings and military installations to be flown at half-staff until Saturday in honor of...